Improvement in stringing and tuning piano-fortes



ilhtitledl tute @tutti @Mite WILLIAM J. RICHARDS, FERDINAND M. SOFGE, AND JOSEPH H. RICH- ARDS, OF LA FAYETTE, INDIANA.

Letters Patent N 99,708, (lated February 8, 1870.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part cf the Bama We, WiLLIAM J. RICHARDS, Funomun M SoFo E,

and JOSEPH H. ltICHAuDs, ofthe city ot' La Fayette,

county ot 'l`ippecanoe, and State of Indiana. have conjointly-invented a certain new and vuseful Method ot' Stringing and Tuning Piano-Fortes, Snc., of whieluthe following is a specification.

rlhe ohject'ot' our invention is to secure a more reliable fastening for the strings ofthe piano-torte, and, especially,'a better mode of regulating their tension, in which consists the operation ot' tuning.

The old plan, copied from the ancient harp, and still in universal use, employs round iron pins, 'passing through The cast-iron'plate in a perpendicular direction, without contact with the plate`and fastening into the wood beneath, but extending i'ar enough above the plate to admit ot" wrapping the wire. The only means ot regulating the tension 'is by tuming the iron pins. But the defects of the plan 'are many, three of which stand prominent, ti1st,the,ditcult.y of stopping thc pin at the precise point desired, when once it has been moved; se`cond, the flexibility of the pin, as also, ofthe tuning-lnnnmer; and third,the inevitable shrinkage and wearing ot the wood, which is the only force holding the. pins, and which, not unti'equently, leaves the piu so loose as to render further tuningjmpossible.

A'Our .new method entirely dispenses with the iron pins, as a means ot'tsteningand tuning, and reference is now had to the accompanying drawing, making a. part. of this specification, in which- Figurel -is'a side view of our invention, and

Figure'f?. is atop view ofthe same. Both are marked by letters correspomlingwth those used herein.-

Instead of the iron pin of the old plan, we insert,

through the cast-iron plate, into the wood h, the inetallic screw b, with its hea-d 11e-aching to a. l

Through `the head a, at i, is a. hole, drilled parallel with the upper surface of the piano-flirte, which hole receives the rod d, which rod is made with small cogs on its upper surface, and to which is attached, at l, the wire vstring.: e.

A. second hole is drilled through thc head a, at fr,

so as to receive, at. an :ingle of about tin't vtive ilegrecs, the shaft c, upon the lowlr end ot' which is cut the coniiml screw c', the thread ot' which is cut lett, and perfectly tits into the cogsI on r1.

By the application ot' a key to the shaft c,which is made square, und turning to the right or left, the conical screw c' 4is found readily acting on the cogged rod d, carrying torn-'ard or backward at will, thus graduzdly and withease regulating the tension ot' the wire string e, which perfbrms the tuning in the most perfect-and durable manner.

The letters g gdesignate the ordinary bridges, over which the wires pass, andare held at the other end by small iron pegsf, firmly tixcd in the cast-iron plate.

These pegs are merely a means ot'iilstening, and perfectl'y pert'orm their otiice.

It is also anticipated, in our invention, that the head a, on b, may be double in its construction, so as to receive t-n'o instead of one oi' the. aforesaid rods (I.

W'hat we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination of the rack (l with the conical screw c turning ti'cely in the head a b, as and for the purpose set fort-h. l v v y 2. The head (t b, having an obliquebearing furthe Screw glas-and for the purpose described.

WILLIAM J. RICHARDS. 'FERDINAND M. SOFGE. JOSEPH H. RICHARDS. Witnesses:

THEoDonr. C. STEELE, CHARLES B. ROBERTSON. 

